MASSIVE FIRE DESTROYS HUNDREDS OF HOMES OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES IN BANGLADESH

Mon 22 March 2021:

A massive fire has swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, gutting hundreds of tents and a number of health centres and other facilities, according to officials and witnesses.

The blaze at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar district erupted in the late afternoon on Monday and spread quickly through at least four blocks, according to Mohammad Shamsud Douza, additional commissioner of the government’s Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC).

MASSIVE fire in Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh Cox’s Bazar. Details awaited.. pic.twitter.com/ghuSH3m3Rt

— I Love Siliguri (@ILoveSiliguri) March 22, 2021

HAPPENING NOW: massive fire in Balukhali Camp 1 #Rohingya #refugee camp pic.twitter.com/P0honDOWYM

— Shafiur Rahman (@shafiur) March 22, 2021

Very sad day for #Rohingya people. Many people died and were injured in the fire in #Balukhali camp in #Bangladesh .Thousands are under the open sky. Barbed wire fencing prevented escape from fire. #Rohingyacampfire

** Graphics ** pic.twitter.com/SJZ5cSIsA4

— Tun Khin (@tunkhin80) March 22, 2021

The massive fire has left thousands of People homeless in the #Rohingya #Refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar.Estimated
in Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/Uh6TZAkfiR

— Md Jamal Photography (@mdjamal315) March 22, 2021

No casualties were immediately reported, but deaths and injuries were feared.

“It has been a challenging situation because many of these huts are in a hilly terrain where fire trucks can’t have access,” said Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. “There is no kind of water system within the camp area to douse the fire.”

Louise Donovan, spokesperson of the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR), said firefighters and rescue and response teams were at the scene trying to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading further.

“All partners are providing support together with the RRRC and emergency services,” she said, adding that humanitarian partners have mobilised hundreds of volunteers from nearby camps to support the efforts, as well as fire safety vehicles and equipment.

“So far, the fire has affected shelters, health centres, distribution points and other facilities. Volunteers are supporting those affected,” she added.

Witnesses at the camp said the fire started at about 15:30 local time (10:30 GMT). Some said they believed it started from a liquefied petroleum gas cylinder explosion, though this has not yet been confirmed.

“We have got the report of fire and we responded to the incident. We are trying to control the blaze,” Mohammad Shamsud Douza, additional commissioner of the RRRC, told Anadolu Agency.

Mayyu Khan, a Rohingya community leader, told Anadolu Agency that “more than 700 tents” had been gutted.

In January, a fire swept through another Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar that left thousands without shelter.

According to the UNHCR, more than 550 shelters – home to at least 3,500 people – were either totally or partially destroyed in the blaze at Nayapara camp, as well as 150 shops and a facility belonging to a non-profit organisation.

In recent weeks, the Bangladesh government has moved several thousand Rohingya to a remote island despite protests from human rights groups who say some of the relocations were forced, allegations denied by authorities.

More than a million Rohingya live in the mainland camps in southern Bangladesh, the vast majority having fled Myanmar in 2017 in a military-led crackdown the UN said was executed with genocidal intent – charges Myanmar denies.

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent